Prepared by Sheyla Marranca PA-C, ConnAPA President-Elect, Chair of the Conference and Education Committee
Thank you to all of those who helped to make our 38th Annual Charter Oak Conference so successful this year! Our conference took place from March 23rd through March 25th at the Mariott Mystic Hotel and Spa. We could not have done it without our attendees, members, sponsors, and exhibitors, so thank you for all that you do! We would like to highlight and thank our sponsors – including our Gold Sponsors: abbvie; ARS Pharma; axome; Connecticut Orthopaedic Institute; Dolce Vida University; Exact Sciences; Hartford Healthcare; Kyowa Kirin; Myriad genetics; and Yale New Haven Health. Our Silver Sponsors included: CSL Behring; Integris Group, and Yale New Haven Health Urgent Care. We truly appreciate your support!
This year, we brought in new learning opportunities including 2 workshops: ECG and Stop The Bleed. The number one cause of preventable death after injury is bleeding, and over 40 PA’s now have the knowledge to save a life out on the field! The ECG workshop was a great review and learning session, helping to improve understanding and interpretation of ECG’s. It was a great interactive learning session held in a smaller group setting. In addition to these workshops, we also held a panel discussion with PA leaders within our state. The main discussion surrounded the role of PA’s in hospital administration.
During this three-day event, speakers covered a variety of topics to provide both in person and virtual CME hours. Thank you to our new and returning speakers – it is because of you that we have attendees return yearly! In addition, we appreciated having Dr. Manisha Juthani, DPH Commissioner, speak at our Annual Business Luncheon. She spoke on the “Importance of Physician Assistants in the Healthcare Landscape”. Her presentation included facts about the PA’s in our state, DPH’s role in healthcare, PA’s role in reporting infectious diseases, and PA legislative action within our state. She was truly inspiring, and showed how the department of public health not only supports PA’s and the care that we provide to patients but also was responsive to audience’s questions and feedback.
This year’s welcome reception was sponsored by the Connecticut Orthopaedic Institute and Dolce Vida University. This was a great networking opportunity which included a taco bar, signature drink, and student poster presentations! CTPAF held their fundraiser for PA scholarship as well. Other networking opportunities included Trivia Night, where the competitive spirit thrived! There were many laughs, and and it was amazing to get together as friends and colleagues in a relaxed environment. Thank you to those who attended, and we hope to see you again next year!
Our 2026 Charter Oak Conference will take place March 22-24, 2026 so mark your calendars. We are looking forward to seeing you next year! Thank you again for your membership and involvement in ConnAPA!
